Chapter 1
"So, when and where's the meeting gonna be held?" Tara asked her girlfriend.
"Tomorrow, midnight at a clearing halfway between Sunnydale and LA," answered Willow Rosenberg, student-cum-computer hacker-cum-wiccan extraordinaire.
"That's awfully vague as directions go," Buffy commented. "What you just said can cover a whole lot of area on the map."
"Its meant to be that way," Anya explained. "That way, no one can find out about the wiccan meetings and start another round of witch hunts. I think the wiccans prefer it that way. There will be an energy field set up around the meeting area that only wiccans can sense."
Buffy, Dawn, Xander, Anya, Willow and Tara shared a grin. An hour ago, Willow had just received word from the internet wiccan grapevine that the annual wiccan's meeting was going to be held within an hour's drive from Sunnydale. Apart from Anya, no one had heard of any meetings by wiccans and were busy hounding her for information.
"I'm a wiccan, right? Why haven't I heard about wiccan meetings before?" Willow asked.
"Well, we're on a hellmouth, for one thing," Anya replied helpfully. "I don't imagine many wiccans willing to come over to spread the news. I think they're afraid that they could get disemboweled or maybe have their hearts ripped out or something."
"You also told us that the information on the internet was encoded, right?" Buffy added. "Only wiccans who have a sufficient level of magical power would be able to see through the glamour and get the message. Maybe you weren't actively looking for it last year since we were distracted with that whole Glory thing."
"Who cares why we didn't know it last year," Dawn interrupted. "The question to ask is whether we're going tomorrow."
"We?" Willow asked, raising an eyebrow.
"You really think you and Tara are going to go to this meeting without us?" Dawn demanded. "Besides, school's out and its vacation time."
"You know, Dawn's right," Buffy said thoughtfully.
"She is?" Xander, asked, surprised.
"I am?" Dawn said, equally startled. "I mean, of course I am," she added hastily as Buffy turned to look at her.
"The thing is," Buffy said, nailing Dawn with a penetrating gaze, "the hellmouth hasn't been throwing anything particularly nasty at us. We could take a night off to go to a meeting. Who knows. Maybe it'll be relaxing."
"Any idea what's gonna happen there?" Dawn asked curiously.
"Well, the first thing on the list would be the election of the new coven," Anya replied.
"Huh?" was the general response around the room.
"The coven," Anya elaborated, "is a group of thirteen wiccans who make any decisions that can influence the wiccan society as a whole. They get the number thirteen because whenever they have to vote on something, there won't be a tie. Basically, they just make sure that ordinary people don't find out about wiccans and deal with any problems that could expose wiccan society to the rest of the world. The election process is basically a one- on-one duel with an existing member of the coven. The winner gets to be one of the coven, the loser steps out and is not allowed to take part in any other duels for the rest of the night."
Anya frowned. "Actually, the duel can take place at any time. Any time someone wants to be in the coven, they can just challenge any member of the coven to a duel. The only rule is that both of them have to be at full strength. They have a potion that can restore magical energy instantly to a magic user bringing them to full strength but the potion only works on one day of every year."
"Which is tomorrow," Buffy interrupted, as light bulbs suddenly appeared over everyone's heads.
"Yep," Anya nodded. "After every duel, the winner can just drink the potion and go on to the next challenger instead of waiting a few days to let his magical reserves recover. After the coven has been decided, any big issues that needs to be resolved are brought up and if there are no big issues for them to discuss, the wiccans usually sit around and talk until sunrise, and then they go home."
"That's it?" Xander asked.
"Yeah," Anya replied. "Basically, its just a chance for wiccans to mingle around with other wiccans. Oh, one more thing. Non-wiccans have to be vouched for by a wiccan before they can attend the meeting."
"Tara and I can vouch for anyone who wants to come," Willow said immediately and Tara nodded her agreement.
"Then its settled," Xander exclaimed. "All those who wish to go raise their hands."
Everyone's hands were lifted up immediately.
A select group of people were sitting in Dumbledore's office. Most important of all, was of course, Dumbledore himself. With him, were Professors McGonagall, Snape and Flitwick. Also in attendance were Arthur Weasley, Mad Eye Moody, Remus Lupin, Harry Potter, Ron Weasley and Hermoine Granger.
"I'm sure you all are wondering why I've called you here," Dumbledore began quietly.
"I sure am," Harry grumbled. Ever since the death of his godfather, Sirius Black, Harry had slipped into a state of moodiness mixed with a healthy dose of despair. Even the subsequent offering of an Order of Merlin, First Class to Sirius from the ministry for his efforts against the Death Eaters and Voldemort did not shake Harry from his current mood – not that anyone expected it to. Sirius was dead and no matter how many titles or medals, he was given, it wouldn't bring him back. The innocence of Sirius Black was on the front page of every paper and magazine for about a week. The ministry was taking on a lot of heat from the public for their refusal to acknowledge the return of Voldemort in the first place as well as their initial condemnation of Sirius. In short, the ministry had become very unpopular with the public and confidence in Fudge had plummeted to amazing lows.
"I mean, you tell me that I absolutely have to be at Privet Drive or else Voldemort will be able to find me and then three days after I return there, Professor McGonagall shows up and tells me to pack my things and that I'm coming back to Hogwarts," Harry said crossly.
"You are here because it appears that we may have a new development concerning our fight against Voldemort," Dumbledore continued smoothly, ignoring Harry's rudeness and everyone's reaction to the name, 'Voldemort'. "And since your friends fall into trouble as easily as yourself, I find it prudent for you three to be present at this meeting so that you may be in possession of certain information." Here, Dumbledore took a deep breath before adding, "I believe that we may have found a new ally against Voldemort."
As if on cue, someone knocked on the door and came in. Everyone stared at the woman who walked in. The first thing they observed was that the woman was in muggle clothes. A gray shirt, dark blue jeans and a red jacket hung from her slender form. Shoulder length dark hair framed a face that could only be described as beautiful.
"What's a muggle doing here," Snape spat out before anyone else could say a word. "Is she going to help us against the Dark Lord? A muggle is powerless against him. In fact, any of his Death Eaters could easily have her for breakfast before she can do anything."
The rest of the room winced at Snape's rudeness. Everyone knew that they needed all the help they could get against Voldemort and Snape's attitude was not one that would encourage people to ally with their side.
However, before anyone could manage to come up with an apology, the woman had turned towards Snape. In the brightly lit room, everyone could see her eyes turn dark before she waved her hand in a curious gesture and muttered an incantation that was too soft for everyone to hear.
They saw the effects of her actions though. Before their eyes, Snape's mouth vanished. Between his nose and chin, there was a flat surface of unbroken skin. Almost everyone's mouth dropped open. Harry observed that Dumbledore did not react so obviously but he could see that Dumbledore was startled as well.
"If you cannot respect your betters, insolent whelp, it would be best if you remained silent," the woman said, her calm demeanor in striking contrast with the panic that could now be seen in Snape's eyes.
The woman dropped into an empty chair and nodded towards Dumbledore. Recovering his composure quickly, Dumbledore introduced her to the rest of the room as Laura Henderson.
After the introductions were complete – and Snape's mouth was restored at Dumbledore's request – they turned to more serious topics.
"Miss Henderson is a practitioner of wiccan magic," Dumbledore announced to the entire room.
"Wiccan magic?" asked Hermione. "Magic practiced by muggles? But its impossible. Muggles can't have magic. Wiccan magic is just fakery. All the books say so."
Everyone winced again as Hermoine suddenly realized what she had said and turned pale when Laura turned to look at her. But this time, Laura looked more amused than anything.
"Why is it impossible for muggles to have magic?" Laura asked Hermoine in a neutral tone, although her eyes were still dancing with suppressed laughter.
"Umm... I don't know," Hermoine responded warily. "But all the books say so."
"And so because its written in a book, then it must be true. Is that what you're saying?" Everyone could see that Laura was definitely enjoying this.
"Why else would they be printed," Hermoine challenged. "If it wasn't true, then it wouldn't have been printed at all, wouldn't it?"
"Oh?" Laura said blandly. "So every time words are printed and allowed for mass distribution, then the words must be true?" Before Hermoine could interrupt, she continued, but this time with a hard edge to her voice. "Have you forgotten what was printed about Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew?"
Hermoine couldn't say anything after that. How could she, when just a few weeks ago, bookstores were selling books extolling the bravery and heroism of Peter Pettigrew while condemning Sirius Black as a cold-blooded murderer.
"Let this be my first lesson to you, young fledging," Laura said, amused. "Books are not the answer to questions. Books merely give you the opinion of the author. You have a choice to agree with that opinion or not. Books can guide you, acting as signposts but whether that signpost points you in the right direction is another thing altogether. If you want answers that come from yourself, you will have to find them for yourself and not rely on anything else."
Hermoine fell silent after that and Dumbledore continued his speech. "Miss Henderson is also a member of the coven," which sparked off another round of explanations of what the coven was and what it did.
After the explanations, Arthur Weasley spoke up hopefully, "And the coven would be willing to help us against the Dark Lord?"
"If I'm still one of the coven after tomorrow's election, I will definitely push forward with that suggestion. If I'm defeated in a duel, then I'll bring up that suggestion with the coven in the strongest possible terms."
Remus sat up. "If, assuming that we manage to secure the help of the wiccans, how much help can we expect from them?" At Laura's raised eyebrow, Remus continued hurriedly, "I mean how powerful are the wiccans? I'm not doubting the abilities of Miss Henderson, of course, but how powerful are the rest of the wiccans as compared to the witches and wizards of the wizarding world?"
Laura shrugged. "There's no one answer to that question, I'm afraid. I'm sure that in your world, some of you are stronger in terms of magical abilities than others? I know that some witches and wizards can cast death curses without any problems but there are also some who have problems with lighting a candle with a spell."
At everyone's agreement, she continued, "It's the same with wiccans. Some of us can barely levitate a pencil but some of us can throw fireballs without any problems. The amount of magical power we have is similar to your society. Some have more power, some have less. Its only that the magical powers we control are different, but not more or less powerful."
Professor McGonagall spoke up thoughtfully, "Are we allowed to accompany you to the wiccan meeting tomorrow?"
"Of course, but I'll have to vouch for anyone who isn't a wiccan. I think that would include all of you. However, if you're there, you can make the appeal for help in person when I introduce the problem of Voldemort. I take it that everyone in this room wants to go?"
There was a chorus of agreement from everyone except Snape who was still afraid of opening his mouth.
"Are you going?" Laura asked Snape directly.
Snape nodded his head vigorously, still not daring to open his mouth.
"Then its settled," Laura said, rubbing her hands with satisfaction. "Are there any other questions?"
"Just one."
Everyone turned towards Harry who had uttered the last comment. Harry blushed but kept on talking. "If the coven is determined by duels, does that mean that you are one of the thirteen strongest witches in the world?"
"Officially, yes," Laura answered.
"Officially?"
"There could be wiccans who are more powerful than us but simply do not wish to be part of the coven for various reasons," Laura explained.
"Are there any exceptionally powerful wiccans?" Moody asked, realizing what Harry was getting at. "In the wizarding world, Dumbledore and Voldemort are known as the most powerful wizards around. Isn't there any wiccan who shares the same reputation in your society that Dumbledore and Voldemort have in our world?"
Laura frowned. "Well, there are rumors that a wiccan over at Sunnydale managed a successful resurrection spell but nobody's willing to make a trip to the hellmouth to confirm it."
"Its impossible. No one can cast a resurrection spell," Ron burst out without thinking.
Laura turned to Ron whose face had turned a fascinating shade of red. "How old are you this year?" she asked curiously.
"Sixteen," Ron answered.
"And in sixteen years, you've managed to find out everything that's possible and impossible?"
"Everyone says that a resurrection spell requires too much energy and is too complicated to cast," Ron mumbled. "And no one's ever cast a resurrection spell before."
"Everyone also once said that the Earth was flat," Laura countered. "And just because something has never been done before doesn't mean that it cannot be done."
Professor Flitwick piped up, "Miss Henderson, when you said resurrection, do you mean raising skeletons and zombies or ..."
"I was talking about true resurrection, Professor Flitwick, not corpse animation," Laura said.
"Maybe we'll meet this wiccan at tomorrow's meeting," Harry said hopefully.
"Maybe," Laura replied. "That's one reason why the meeting this year is located near Sunnydale. The wiccan community would also like to verify the truth of the rumor, and by placing the meeting location near Sunnydale, we're hoping that she'll turn up."
"Does the rumors have a name to go with that particular wiccan?" Dumbledore enquired.
"Yup," Laura answered. "Willow Rosenberg."